Brewer Vetoes “Refusal Of Service” Bill

You could see this coming a mile away once the liberal pundit and media finger-wagging, reality challenged fools became involved

(NY Times) Ending a day that cast a glaring national spotlight on Arizona, Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, vetoed a bill on Wednesday that would have given business owners the right to refuse service to gay men, lesbians and other people on religious grounds.

Her action came amid mounting pressure from Arizona business leaders, who said the bill would be a financial disaster for the state and would harm its reputation. Prominent members of the Republican establishment, including Mitt Romney and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, also sided with the bill’s opponents, who argued that the measure would have allowed people to use religion as a fig leaf for prejudice.

Ms. Brewer announced her veto at a hastily called news conference after spending the day holed up in the Capitol in private meetings with opponents and supporters. “I call them like I see them, despite the cheers or the boos from the crowd,” she said. She added that the legislation “does not address a specific or present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona,” and that it was “broadly worded and could result in unintended and negative consequences.”

Perhaps they should have actually read the massive two page legislation. It’s not Jim Crow, it’s not anti-gay…heck, it doesn’t even mention gays

(Rich Lowry) It was jarring to read the coverage of the new “anti-gay bill” passed by the Arizona Legislature and then look up the text of the instantly notorious SB 1062. The bill was roughly 998 pages shorter than much of legislation that passes in Washington, so reading it didn’t take much of a commitment. Clocking in at barely two pages, it was easy to scan for disparaging references to homosexuality, for veiled references to homosexuality, for any references to homosexuality at all.

They weren’t there. A headline from The Week declared, “There is nothing Christian about Arizona’s anti-gay bill.” It would be more accurate to say that there was nothing anti-gay about Arizona’s anti-gay bill.

Eleven legal experts on religious freedom statutes – who represent a variety of views on gay marriage – wrote a letter to Gov. Brewer prior to her veto explaining how the bill “has been egregiously misrepresented by many of its critics.”

Store owners are allowed to deny service to people with no shoes and shirts, who come in drunk, many have signs telling people to take their hoodies off or don’t come in, and for other reasons. But, if someone doesn’t believe in gay marriage and refuses to bake a cake, they will be vilified and sued. That’s much of what the Arizona law was about.

In addition to the federal government, 18 states have such statutes and about a dozen other states interpret their state constitutions as extending the same protections, according to the letter. The statutes, the scholars write, “say that before government can burden a person’s religious exercise, the government has to show a compelling justification.”

Ted Kennedy once championed this same type of legislation.

The question isn’t whether businesses run by people opposed to gay marriage on religious grounds should provide their services for gay weddings; it is whether they should be compelled to by government. The critics of the much-maligned Arizona bill pride themselves on their live-and-let-live open-mindedness, but they are highly moralistic in their support of gay marriage, judgmental of those who oppose it and tolerant of only one point of view on the issue – their own.

If a private entity wants to deny service, that’s their right. And the denyed can, shockingly, go elsewhere. Plenty of places bake cakes. Instead, they are sued. Government gets involved. The law would stop this. Interestingly, liberals who hate “anti-gay” laws are….denying service

(NBC4) A West Hollywood bar is refusing service to a select group of state legislators, in response to anti-gay legislation that has been proposed in eight states.

The Abbey Food & Bar has established a “Deny Entry List.” On it are headshots of each state representative that supports bills that allows for the discrimination of LGBT people. As of last Monday, anyone on this list will not be allowed to enter the establishment.

The bar has the right to do that, or, at least they should. Being California, no one can be denied

According to California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, businesses cannot deny entry based on race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, medical condition, or marital status. Political persuasion is not on that list.

Perhaps, but this would be about religion, not politics. But, they should have the power to deny service. They own it. Government shouldn’t threaten them. But, the hypocrisy is, I’d like to say astounding, but, no, not with liberals. It is expected.